Family of Max ARONOFF and Sarah Bernice GREENSPOON

Max arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, around the age of

17, thanks to his brother Sam providing the funds for passage from

Dagda, Latvia. Max was taken in by people from Dagda or the nearby

area, who were presumably related. He remained in Halifax a number of

years, probably until the early 1920's, whereupon he immigrated to the

Boston, MA, USA. In 1925, he married Sarah Bernice Grinspoon in which

they happily shared "wedded bliss" until Max's passing. He died of

cancer (a melanoma on the bottom of his foot). He was the first of

the 9 Aronoff siblings to die. He was otherwise healthy, medically

speaking, other than he was an inveterate smoker up to within a couple

of years of his death.

He did not know any English before arriving in Canada. He

never attended formal schooling, but totally self-educated himself.

He was fluent in Yiddish when first arriving in Canada, but became an

only-English speaker as the years wore on -- although, he would read

Yiddish books for pleasure.

He and his wife were granted a Ford, Mercury and Lincoln

dealership in a small New England town and opened that dealership in

1930 and successfully operated it until 1948, when diagnosed with the

cancer which consumed him. That business was sold and the family

moved to San Gabriel, California. Max died about 10 months later after

moving. MDs had said he would last another 5 years in a "warm climate"

which occasioned the family's move to California. Even though the

family had a certain financial security with a well-respected and

established small busines in the community, the decision was made to

move for Max's health.

The family was not religious, in fact, there was no "Jewish"

life in that small town in New England. It should be noted that Henry

Ford was a reknown anti-Semite at the time and yet a dealership was

granted to them (did the Ford Motor Company think they were not

Jews?). In all of New England, there was maybe one other "Jewish"

Ford dealer (Ware, Massachusetts).

While the purpose of the move to Calif was effectively

thwarted, the family started all over again and managed to

re-established itself under a condition which might be described today

as a "single parent 'family' with dependent children". The remaining

family never thought in those terms. It simply moved on doing the best

it could. Both children graduated from college, USC and UCLA, and had

their own successful careers. Max's widow did the same developing

real estate interests by herself.

Submitted May 4, 2005.